[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I use “Tide Left” and “Tide right” for wraps

Based on what I am seeing, he is going to be too fast for you to be able to use tide before the left and right, because if tide means it could be either left or right, he his going to have to be delayed in his response by a stride, waiting for the left or right. For example: say he needs to wrap jump 3, and he only has 1 stride to make the adjustment for the wrap. If he is in the air over 2 or landing from 2 and you start the cue “tide right” – the tide is not enough info so he will take one more stride waiting for hear left or right before he can make the adjustment properly. But if you say “right” as he is landing from 2… then he can totally make an immediate adjustment, no delay. Let me know if that makes sense.

I suggest either using tide for only one direction, or using only left or right.

>>I use “Push” for Backsides

Perfect!

>>I was always wondering, when we teaching our young dogs to wrap the cone
is that foundation of Wrap or Backside jump?>
I assume for Wraps, but it looks like Backside to me.>>

The rocking horses will become front side wraps. We add backsides with the visual of a “bar” (a bump) so the pups understand backside as go to the other side of the bar.

>>I also generally BAD with Verbals. It is so much to do on course running a dog!
Stay connected, know your line, show the dog line from possibly ahead, remember the course. Pronouncing the verbals at correct time is adding extra effort, that I am struggling with.
That means – I need to practice more. Having a puppy and no speed just yet with simple exercises IS the perfect way to start!>>

I agree that is it a LOT 🙂 But since we are starting this with the young dogs, I also agree – lots and lots of practice will make it so much easier 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>How did you know I was freaking out? LOL.

Ha! Because you are a normal human who might have been freaking out a bit LOL!!!

>>I mean, I know BCs do stuff like this, but she’s only 6 months old. Eeck!>>

Welcome to the beginning of canine adolescence 🙂 Teenage dogs are unpredictable and spicy, and that is what was happening here 🙂

>> know it’s more than 2 minutes, but it was having a hard time editing, giving you enough before and after, so here’s an index, I totally am not wanting you to look at the whole thing. >>

No worries! If it was an easy skills session then yes, edit it down. But when you run into a question? Post the whole video 🙂 Thank you for bringing this up, it is good to plan for and she is a pretty normal spicy teenager.

>>I’m anxious to work on arousal management! I want to start now! But raining through Tuesday, so it will have to wait.>>

We can start it now, we just don’t need to use the tunnel yet.

>>I totally get her frustration, by the way, I was annoying, and she actually does better when I’m moving with her.>>

You were NOT annoying LOL!!!! She is wanting the action action action do the thing. And I think on this video she didn’t know where to look or when to start, so she was frustrated because she wanted to run run run run. But it is good to teach her that not everything involves running all the time 🙂 And, having the MM out past the tunnel TOTALLY helped because she knew where to look.

So a couple of ideas:

I think we can bring a toy into the session. Food is a good motivator for her, but I think the action of a toy will be a better motivator and reinforcement. And you can develop a loop, such as:
Tug to get her to the position in front of the tunnel. Out the toy, cookie reward. Hand on collar, cookie reward. Send to tunnel: throw toy or click MM. Then tug tug tug back to the position in front of the tunnel again.

And after every 1 or 2 reps, I suggest breaking off and doing a few reps of the cookie pattern games. That is because the tugging and tunneling brings her arousal state way up! So the pattern game will help teach her to self regulate bak to a more centered arousal state.

And if there is an error on the tunnel, you can throw a reset cookie for her and start again. The thrown cookies will provide more action, which will be more motivating than handing her the treats.

And since it is going to rain, you can teach her this loop in a less arousing state by using the prop or a balance disc or something. She is GREAT at touching these and also she doesn’t get as stimulated by the as she does with the tunnel. The already reduced arousal level will help you teach her the framework for self-regulation… then we can add back the tunnel when (or if LOL) the rain ever stops.

And if you haven’t had time to check out the most recent resilience game, take a look at the Volume Dial game – it will help you be able to change her arousal state and hat is something we use throughout training!

And video everything 🙂 And keep me posted!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
You can hold the collar with the dog-side arm, and have the threadle arm up in position. Start saying the verbal… then let go, then move after he starts moving. The stationary threadle arm should be fine because he will move before anything else moves 🙂

T

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>so far my favorite

I am happy to hear it, I love them too because it is so fast and fun! In coming weeks, we add more games to this Rocking Horse game 🙂

He did really well in both directions – I really can’t see the side preference anymore. yay! And he did really well with all of the added motion here with your moving more: FUN FUN FUN!!!! I also liked his impulse control of ignoring the toy til it was time to play with the toy. Super!

So…. Have you decided on your wrap verbals? What verbals do you use for his big brother? 🙂 It is time to use them for Charlie too 🙂 You will want to start saying your wrap verbals as you are ending him, so both of you practice using them and responding to them. And then when you reward, you can use your ‘bite’ or ‘get it’ marker. Another goal is to NOT say “yes” as much, because it causes him to look at you and ask what you are ‘yes’ing about haha!! So the verbal wrap cues will give better info, and so will the reward markers – and that way he can look directly at his cones.

For the next session, add your wrap verbals. And then you can start doing the advanced level, where you show him the sideways and backwards sending, followed by leaving the FC sooner and sooner in the rocking horse game.

Great job on all of these! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
The parallel path is also going well! He was definitely focusing forward to it and had not trouble finding the parallel path. He was even starting to run! A couple of things:

>>I add Manners Minder for Reward.
Is that beneficial?>>

Yes, you can totally use it in some sessions – but you don’t need to use the clicker in your hand AND the MM beeper. When the MM is being used, just use the MM remote. When you also used your clicker, he was not sure if he should look at you or at the MM. Using the MM beep only will answer that question.

Also, mix in the thrown toy instead of using food rewards. Sure, with food, we get more reps in. But the toy will bring out the speeeeeed! And he already wants to start running here… so let’s let him feel the wind in his hair 🙂 Be sure to mark his choice of focusing on the line rather than waiting til he gets to the jump (ideally with a ‘get it’ marker instead of a click) before he gets to the jump and before he looks at you, and try to throw the toy so it lands ahead of him before he looks back. You might end up running too 🙂

One thing I see is that he finds the parallel path over the bar on the way back to you: perfect! You can reward that too, because when you are running a course you will want him to find the line when he is behind you as well. 


In later weeks, we did a concept transfer from the prop to a jump-like setup – since you are already using a jump bar, you can add wings to it to make the set up look more like a jump. But, don’t use a jump bar (because they roll around under his feet when he adds speed) – try a PVC bump or rolled up towel or pool noodle for now. The concept transfer is here:

Concept Transfer 1: Parallel Path Commitment

Great job!!!

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi! This is also going really well! Yay!

He is doing well with the get out! It is not an intuitive behavior for the pups but he picked it up really well!

Nice clicks to mark the moment of him choosing to do the out!

You can start with a cookie toss so you are moving up the line ahead of him (instead of with him at your side). How is his stay coming along? If it is strong enough, you can use that too to get yourself ahead of him on the line, as well as a thrown toy instead of cookies. If the stay is not yet strong enough (he is still really young) you can totally keep going with cookie tosses for now 🙂

And be sure to mix in some reps where you don’t cue the out, so he should just stay on the line with you all the way past the prop and not go to the prop at all.

Great job!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning!
He is doing well with figuring out the serpentine! Good job with the cookie tosses to get him started from all different angles and also your placement of reinforcement was great.
He was not entirely sure about driving into the empty hand. Do you have the target from the pre-game or strike a pose part 1 to put into your hand instead of the empty hand? The hand target can be more visible & salient to the pups, helping to draw them in to the serpentine.

After another session like this, when he is driving in strongly to the hand target, you can use a toy or the Manners Minder as the reward. That will make it even more exciting for him!

Nice work :)


Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

Eek it looks so cold there!!!

>>I just need something for a mat. I may give up my yoga mat…>>

Yoga mats are perfect – I bought a couple of cheapie ones at Walmart, so I didn’t feel bad about cutting them apart LOL!

About the tunnel game:
For the threadle side entry, I don’t think you were doing anything weird – it is just a really hard skill that is not totally intuitive to the dogs. All of the tunnel sends involve turning towards you and the threadle sends involve turning away… which is just plain weird LOL!
I think you can start with her facing the entry more so she sees the entry while turning away. You can almost be on a 90 degree angle to the entry (or less) so the entry is very visible and she doesn’t have to do a full u-turn away from you. When she gets that, you can easily build up to the hander angles. You will see the lightbulb go on and she will nail it every time 🙂

She did really well on the combos!!! Her commitment and turning looks great, and your connection was great too!!

>>Throwing that toy away from her was a mindblower.>>

Yes 🙂 And that is why we do it in this game, so the pups can learn the impulse control and have something fun to focus on instead (the barrel wraps). She did a lovely job with the barrel wraps even with the toy on the ground1

>>I got the feeling that she was getting annoyed at the collar holds.>>

I don’t know if she was annoyed! Maybe a little judgey, but not annoyed LOL! She was starting to look at you (like at 1:12) after the toy landed, like she was saying: got it, let’s do it! Her only error in terms of going to the toy after that point was when you said “ok”. So she might have thought it was the release to get the toy (so perhaps it was not an error :))

You can definitely keep playing these, adding in the decel and pivots rather than the drive to the toy on each rep (you can have a 2nd toy stuffed in a pocket to reward those).

Great job on these! Stay warm 🙂

Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!
I think he is doing really well with the tunnel understanding here, no problem finding the entry! Yay!

One suggestion:
To attach the verbal fully, he needs to hear it before you and he start moving… which means he needs to wear a collar. In this session, the arm and your footstep was wet he was responding to, so the verbal might not be salient. So you would hold the collar, start the verbal… then let him go when he is looking at the correct tunnel entry.

You were able to move pretty far back from the entry, which is great! When you are at the tunnel exit, you can alternate “tunnel” sending to t he entry right in front of him, with the ‘kiss’ threadles.
And stay in motion on all of them, especially the double whammy: be moving forward so you don’t end up facing him or rotated.

Great job! Let me know what you think!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

I think he was only hitting when you got boisterous on the reinforcement, so you can be quieter when you place the reward then get boisterous after he arrives at it 🙂

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>I tried to keep my feet facing forward, but then it looks like I don’t end up turning my upper body as much. should I focus on my feet or my body being turned toward him for the backside slice connection or ????

I think the main thing is to NOT have your feet turning to the entry barrel when working on the parallel path, so you can lay a line on the ground to keep moving directly forward. And then put some connection on top of that – he won’t need SUPER connection, just enough to make it clear. You were generally good with moving straight up the line:
There is a very subtle step to the backside happening on some of the reps, and also on some reps you were converging in a bit to the barrel. So having a line on the ground will keep your line of motion even more precise.
There was also a bit of a different positional cue here – when you were moving to the center of the bar, it was clearer to him that it was a backside and that is all fine for now. When you did the front sides, you were moving away from the parallel path a tiny bit (this was good!) and he read them all pretty well. His only question was at :38 when he was in a stay, and there was not a lot of room after the release so there was a tiny bit of convergence and he went to the backside. He did not have that question when he was on the other side and when there was no convergence.

Overall, this is going well! So don’t try to exaggerate the connection too much, and on these parallel lines you can keep your feet moving forward as you go to the center of the bar.
Great job!!
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

>>So I thought I’d show you this mixed bag of tunnel work. Mistakes were made.

Thank you for leaving this stuff in and talking about it. Mistakes were NOT made… it is more like we got to learn a it more about Georgie, and that is great! We need to figure out these teenagers and sessions like this are actually very helpful (although I am sure you were surprised and frustrated).

>>FYI, she’s my first border collie.

BCs can be, um, different LOL! And yes, I have seen BCs do everything she did here and that includes biting the tunnels LOL!

>>There was biting of the tunnel, nipping at me, and lots of barking. I was umm, surprised. >>>

Do you have video of any of that to show? It was not really happening in the link here. When was the tunnel biting or momma biting happening – when you were trying to line her up? I am curious to see it so I can help figure out why she was doing it and how to help her. It is generally an arousal/frustration behavior, and actually pretty normal (so don’t freak out or anything LOL!)

The teaching of the tunnel part if the easy part – so mainly what I see going on here was that the value of the tunnel (running, FUN! And also WORK because BCs love to work) and the value of the MM were both SUPER high. And the value of lining up at your side? Not as high even though the cookies in your hand might have been identical to the ones in the MM (dogs can be strange like that LOL!). The MM is paired with running and work, so it might have a higher motivation level.

I am actually excited that she showed us this now, rather than in a year or something when you are starting to trial. It helps us do some training and frustration reduction/arousal management.

So I think we can use this tunnel-training construct to work on the arousal management and frustration reduction for those moments when she is NOT being asked to work work work (your girl likes the action of working :))

Yes, have a collar or harness on her, but introduce it separately during some simple tugging or shaping with you, so she doesn’t pay much attention to it.

Then when you go to train the tunnel, it will be on and she will barely notice it.

You can develop a loop of behavior:
Line up at your side for either SUPER high value reinforcement (cheese or something different and very motivating) – gentle collar touch – into the tunnel to the MM, then back to you for a tug game. One cycle.

Then, in between each rep, I suggest you move a little away from the tunnel and play the pattern game from the resilience games. It is fabulous for arousal management! And then after a couple of reps of that… back to the little loop of line up for cheese, tunnel, MM, tugging.

Let me know if that makes sense! I am excited to see more :)
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

Good morning! What is up with the winter jacket? LOL!!!!! I can relate, I am freezing if the temps are below 60 lol

The tunnel game looks great. I love how she takes the tunnel on the way back to you LOL! And you helped her love the collar hold part with well-placed cookies for lining up: you got her happy with it without fighting with her and without dragging her around by the collar: PERFECT!!

>> All the reps were dog/human/tunnel.

Looked great! She seemed to really enjoy it! You can start adding more angles (different positions along the tunnel, getting closer to the exit) and you can also start moving as you are letting her to to the tunnel.

>>I’ll try the human/dog/tunnel next.

Perfect! That will nicely lead you into the game posted on Wednesday (the double whammy).

>>For this game, I tried to leave as she approached the barrel and also send from farther away and leave before she got to the barrel. >

Mission accomplished: Turn and burn looks AMAZEBALLS! She looked super strong in both directions and you were able to do the FC and run away before she got to the barrel (excellent commitment!). Freezing the video at :21 and you will see that you are fully turned and running away before she even gets to the barrel. YAY! And you had your verbals going… a giant click/treat for you!!!!!

She is totally ready for more of the rocking horse games and the handling combos! Looking great!

Great job!!! Stay warm 🙂
Tracy

[Tracy Sklenar]

>>I don’t think I ever end up with too short a session LOL.

Ha! That is true for all of us LOL!!

[Tracy Sklenar]

Hi!

He did really well here, I like how he is already leading with his head into the turns! Your timing looked good to me, even the ones that you said were late LOL!

I think you can use a little less hand movement after you start the turn cue, so your hand doesn’t go past the upright at all – I think you were adding the extra hand movement because you were also throwing the treats from that hand, so this can be smoothed out by throwing the cookies from the other hand (same hand as the clicker) rather than the turn hand.

He did well on the singles! You can definitely do lots of doubles with a couple of singles thrown in.

>>IAlso when I watched the video back I was thinking I had too many reps and should have probably broken it up with a toy in between the 2nd time wrap and the 1st time wraps? It’s so easy to get focused on trying to get the mechanics that I forgot about a fun break.>>

If this was the whole session, it was fine in terms of length and number of reps! Yes, you can break things up with a toy game but I think this session went really well. If you feel like you might go too long while thinking about mechanics, you can set a timer to keep you honest LOL!

Great job!!

Tracy

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